Soldiers provide security from their vehicles during a re-supply mission in northeast Baghdad, Iraq, on February 17, 2004. The soldiers are assigned to the Battery B, 1st Battalion, 94th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Division.

1st Armored Division

Soldiers: Up to 17,000

Home fort: Wiesbaden, Germany

Deployed to: On July 4, 2004, the division cased its banners and flags, signifying its departure from the Iraqi area of operations.

Units: The division includes four brigade-sized units plus a division artillery unit and a division support command.

Duties: The 1st Armored Division spent an unprecedented 15 months in Iraq, The longest deployment of a division there. The division was the largest division-based task force in U.S. Army history, according to division officials. The division was initially assigned to provide security in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The division was scheduled to be relieved by the 1st Cavalry Division but the division's tour of duty was extended in April 2004 for three months after attacks by Iraqi insurgents increased. After turning the city over to the 1st Cavalry Division April 15, the task force headed south to pacify the cities of Najaf, Diwaniya, Kut and Karbala before heading back to Germany in July.

Known as "Old Ironsides," the 1st Armored is the U.S. Army's oldest armored division. The division led the attacks on Iraqi Republican Guard divisions in the 1991 Persian Gulf war and also participated in peacekeeping operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. The division's firepower includes M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, the Paladin field artillery system and Apache Longbow attack helicopters. It is based in Europe under the command of the Army's V Corps.